Sweet to bitter: The tragic tale of Rinrin
by Tinni
Summary: Rin finally opens up about what made him change...


**Sweet to bitter: The tragic tale of Rinrin**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

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Rin reminded himself to never underestimate Gou's manipulative nature. His mother had begged and pleaded for him to come spend one weekend with the family. So Rin had come. He wasn't heartless enough to deny his mother when she so desperately wanted some family time. So he had dutifully turned-up and the dinner on saturday night went well, his mother was a good cook but she had put in extra care for prepare this meal to be extra special.

Rin stayed the night at his mother's place. Using the room that was designated as his but he in truth felt little attachment to. If only because it was as spartan as his dorm. Absently Rin wondered where he had gone wrong that he was utterly incapable of leaving an impression of himself anywhere that did not involve the scent of chlorine.

Rin woke late on sunday morning and languishly made his way to the living area and was promptly greeted with, "Rin-chan!"

"Na-nagisa!" Rin exclaimed and then noticed that Nagisa was not alone. Haru and Makoto were also there, as was that belly flopper. Rin had no clue what the name of the boy with the glasses was, nor did he care. To Rin he'll always be the flopper. "What the hell are you all doing here?" Rin demanded!

"We are having a swim club meeting!" replied Nagisa, "We didn't know you were going to be here. Did you do this Gou-chan?" Nagisa asked.

"You guys are always suspecting me," protested Gou but she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes and that told Rin volumes.

"I am leaving," declared Rin as he turned to go back into his room to get his things and return to his dorm.

"Rin," it was Makoto, "This is your house. If we are not welcomed, we'll leave," he said gently and firmly, "Come on guys, we'll hold our meeting else where."

Haru and Rei got-up without protest, but Nagisa pulled a face, "Rin-chan has gotten so mean! What happened in Australia anyway, to suck out all of Rin-chan's happiness?" he wondered.

Rin's shoulders slumped, defeated. He turned and presented his friends with an anguished face, "You want to know, Nagisa, you really want to know?"

Something in this voice and in his look made Nagisa think that maybe he didn't. So he didn't reply. So Makoto chimed in, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to Rin," he said in a soothing tone, "But if you do want to talk, we'll listen."

"Fine," said Rin, "I'll tell you but if you get nightmares, don't blame me."

Makoto gulped, Rei eyed the door and wondered if he should leave as Rin was a stranger to him. Gou looked both curious and scared. Nagisa had a confused look on his face, wondering if he was going to regret asking Rin to tell them what had happened in Australia. Only Haru still wore his customary stoic look but his eyes held a faint suspicion as he looked towards Rin.

"It happened near the beginning of my second year in Australia," said Rin, "I had just returned from spending New Years here and was kind of upset," Haru and Makoto knew why he might be upset, Rei, Nagisa and Gou had no idea, "My motivation was at an all time low so one of my friends suggested we go visit his parents farm in the outback during the Easter holidays. I thought why not. So we went. It started off well enough. We swam just for fun at a nearby creek, went fishing and even went bushwalking. But my friend always made sure we returned before dark and his parents warned me not to stay out too late. Explaining that the area was infested with..." Rin dropped his voice, "Drop Bears."

"Dr... drops bears?" wondered Makoto.

"Large, vicious man-eating bears that live up on trees," explained Rin, "They are called drop bears because they drop down on you and tear you limb from limb..." Rin shuddered.

Well, Haru started to think but was totally distracted when Makoto suddenly grabbed his shoulders and all but hid behind him.

Totally oblivious to the distress he was causing or just not caring, Rin continued, "I still wonder what possessed me but one night. I just couldn't sleep and decided just to step out for a bit. I wasn't going to go far, just to the porch and from there watch the stars. I missed the stars since my school was in the heart of the city and due to the light pollution, you rarely saw the stars," Rin eyes looked so very, very sad, "There was a cool breeze blowing and there was a smell of rain in the air, which is rare because this is the outback and there are kids who have never seen the rain out there, and the stars were burning bright. So I decided to walk down to the creek and back, just to tire myself out a bit so I could go to sleep. The creek was maybe 100m from the house and there were no trees between the house the creek. So I felt pretty safe. But..."

"But..." whispered Nagisa.

"No one had warned me about the Bunyip in the creek..."

"Bunyip!" cried Makoto.

"I horrible creature with tentacles and flippers that live in creeks and only come out at night. One of them decided I would make a good midnight snack and as soon as I got close to the creek it shot out its long tentacle at me, wrapped it around my legs and dragged me under the water."

"No!" exclaimed Gou.

"I have never been so afraid of the water as I tried to free myself from the Bunyip! I was swimming for my survival! Struggling for each breath as that thing kept dragging me, wrapping its tentacles around my leg, arms and even touching my..." Rin shuddered again and let his friends fill in the blank, "But finally, by some miracle I managed to get free but when I scrambled up the bank, I found myself surrounded by tall Eucalyptus trees... trees filled with large, glowing red eyes!"

Makoto screamed and that's when Haru decided he had, had enough, "It's too early in the morning for stupid horror stories, Rin," Haru told him calmly.

Suddenly Rin grinned, "I don't know, about that, this is the most fun I have had in weeks!"

"Rin-chan that's mean!" cried Nagisa, "I was seriously worried!"

"So, so that didn't happen?" asked Makoto, just to be sure.

"No and I bet Drop Bears and Bunyips are totally made-up creatures," replied Haru, "They both sound ridiculous, even for Australia. Beside, if something like that actually happened to Rin, his mother would have been informed, so Gou should have known about it."

Suddenly Gou pulled a face, realising that Haru was right, "Onii-chan that was so cruel!"

"Not my fault you lot are as gullible as a newborn baby," replied Rin, starting to get-up.

"Well we still don't know what made Rin-chan change," said Nagisa a little unhappily.

"That's obvious," replied Haru indifferently.

"Oh?" challenged Rin, "Think you have me figured out ah, Haru? Well come on then, let's hear your best guess."

Haru fixed Rin with his cool, unflinching blue eyes and replied, "You can no longer see your father when you swim," Rin visibly flinched.

"Damn you Haru, damn you to hell," declared Rin before turning on his heels and heading to his room.

Slamming the door shut behind him he threw himself on the bed. He had forgotten that Haru observed and deduced a lot more than he let on and he had forgotten how protective Haru could be of Makoto. Haru had clearly decided to extract vengeance on Rin for scaring Makoto with that little observation. Damn him, him and Makoto and Nagisa and that four eyed flopper! Rin wished they would all be eaten by drop bears and violated by bunyips... well once some mad scientist had created drop bears and bunyips that is... maybe if the swimming thing didn't work out Rin would go into genetics just to create drop bears and bunyips. The thought brought a savage grin to Rin's face as he indulged in the fantasy of what horrors he could unleash upon the world in the face of which even Haru would not be able to remain stoic.

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**Author's note:** I blame this fic on excess consumption of sugar!


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